Fear
by xwingday
Summary: How does it feel to be a young warrior left behind?


**Fear**

Once you get outside of the village the South Pole is really nothing but a vast white blank spot on the map. Since the day nearly all the men of my tribe left I've been reminded of this. It's been one month with no word of our warriors, and I'm the only one left. A lone wolf. . . No, that's not true. I'm a damn wolf cub trying to be a wolf. I don't blame them for leaving me behind either, who could. I'm just a runt of a boy, just barely a teen, and the only "man" left in our tribe. They thought I'd be nothing but a burden, and maybe they were right.

Before they left I trained with the men of my tribe. My father, chief Hakoda, showed me how to use a bladed boomerang and how to properly clean my weapons. Bato used to take me out fishing and would tell me stories about the hunts he and my father went on. I wasn't old enough to go. That was always how it went, not old enough or not strong enough. The closest male to my age was four years older than me. Katara, my baby sister, was and still is my only friend up here. That's pretty sad for a warrior. If I'd known they were going to leave me behind I would have trained harder. I remembered every tip they told me, everything they taught me, but I wasn't strong enough or fast enough.

I quietly pulled on my boots as the sun rose, getting ready to leave before anyone woke. As silently as possible I crept out of the small igloo I built myself and sighed in relief when I didn't see anyone milling about outside. Sun was just up enough to provide the first real rays of light, the sky a light blue and the snow brilliant white.

"You're leaving again Sokka?" I jumped when I heard her voice, falling on my back in the snow. Katara sighed from where she had been leaning against my shelter and offered me a hand up. I grabbed my ten year old sister's hand and got back to my feet.

"I wont be long." I forced a smile for my sister, but I had the feeling she could see right through it. I lifted one hand and messed her hair, she swatted at my hand and yelped. "I just need to train alone for a while. Why are you up?"

"Water bending." Katara smirked at me as she replied and I grimaced.

"Well keep your magic water away from me, I don't need to be soaked."

"It's not magic water!" She glared at me and was clearly up for a fight this morning. I just waved her back a bit sighed.

"Okay, not magic, got it." With that I turned and started toward the edge of the village. I wasn't surprised to hear the quiet crunch of her feet in the snow beside mine. Katara, for all she was a girl, was also my best friend. I'd been avoiding her a bit this month, licking my wounds Gran Gran said, so the kid probably missed me.

On any other morning I would have started running when I reached the edge of the village. I needed the exercise, but something hung in the air between myself and Katara today. So we walked silently as the sun rose slowly higher in the sky. I waited, Katara would crack and speak eventually. Once she got out whatever it was I'd be able to go back to my depressing thoughts of being alone and misunderstood.

"Sokka?" Katara tugged on the sleeve of my parka and I stopped. My blue eyes came up to meet hers. There was something in her blue eyes that echoed inside me. Loneliness, sadness? "You aren't weak."

"What?" I had to stop and think. I never told anyone how I felt. I was a warrior, we don't need to talk about feelings right?

"I said you aren't weak." Katara watched me then gave an impatient sigh as I looked blankly at her. She turned her eyes toward the horizon as she spoke again. "It isn't the same, but I do know how you feel."

"I know he's your father too Katara but . . ."

"It isn't just that." Katara began to play with her gloved hands as she spoke to me. "I remember the raids, and how the fire benders would come on their big metal boats. The way they would rip apart our village with their fire."

"What are you getting at?"

"Sokka you feel weak because you weren't ready to fight yet. Because the warriors left you behind and now you have to learn on your own." Katara's eyes finally came back up to his and their was a very weak and shaky smile. "I know how you feel because I have no one to teach me bending and I'm too young to fight. I want to use my bending to help too."

Sokka mulled over her words for a moment. Katara was a strange kid, and to be honest when she made water fly it made him nervous. He heard the stories Gran Gran told them of water bender though and he could see how maybe, just maybe she could understand him a little. The young warrior slung an arm across his sister's shoulders and smiled easily for the first time in a while. He steered them back toward the small village as he spoke.

"Don't worry about it Katara. Someday I'll be a great warrior and you'll be a master with you magic water and we'll kick some fire nation butt!"

"It isn't magic water!" Katara exclaimed in a frustrated tone as they walked back. She was smiling a little though as she started her old triad. "It's a sacred tradition of our tribe, a priceless piece of our heritage!"

"Sure, but it's still a little freaky."

"Sokka!"

"I'm just saying."

**AN: **That went much different in my head.


End file.
